About Us

Language is an essential part of our life. Nothing characterizes
humanity more than the ability to use language. Linguists analyze
sounds, words, sentences, and texts. Linguists also make valuable
contributions to practical fields such as K-12 teaching, second and
foreign language teaching, language planning, translation, computer
science, forensic linguistics, and language disorders.

Computational applications of linguistics, such as speech
synthesis, speech recognition, and machine-assisted translation,
have also become increasingly important.

Our undergraduate and graduate programs develop intellectual
skills that are essential to professional careers or advanced
degrees. Our courses provide analytical tools that can be applied
to virtually any subject. They also help enhance critical thinking,
satisfy broad intellectual interest, and enrich personal knowledge.

Our majors can be applied directly to various professional
fields. They also serve as excellent preparation for pursuing
advanced degrees in linguistics and other fields such as English,
anthropology, psychology, sociology, computer science, and foreign
languages. TESL is an important part of our program and especially
compatible with degrees in education and liberal studies. A
Japanese minor can be profitably combined with majors in such areas
as business, international relations, linguistics, and literature.

A Japanese Minor is also available for students with an
interest in Japanese language and culture and/or plans to pursue
careers in various areas, such as international business,
marketing, economics, art and literature, etc., where a knowledge
of the Japanese language and culture would be useful.

The B.A. Option in
Computational
Linguistics is for those students interested in text
processing, forensic linguistics, software design, machine
translation, and other professions dealing with the interface
between computers and humans.

Facilities

The Department of Linguistics has a computer lab for
computer-assisted language learning (CALL), for language study, for
the analysis of speech sounds, and for displaying the operation of
the organs of speech. Computers are used for simulating speech and
for mapping the geographical extent of language features, as well
as for storing the data needed for the making of grammars and
dictionaries. The Linguistics Department provides practical
classroom teaching experience for qualified TESL students through
employment in the
American English
Institute.

Also associated with the Linguistics Department is the Forensic
Linguistics Institute (FLI). The FLI provides analyses in
linguistic stylistics to extramural clients, thereby giving Fresno
State linguistics majors opportunities for work, study, and
research.